The NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV Review: A Premium 4K Set Top Box
by Ganesh T S on May 28, 2015 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Media Streamer
- Home Theater
- TV
- 4K
- Shield
- NVIDIA
The Android TV Experience
The focus today (coinciding with Google I/O) is obviously on Android TV. Google, having learnt from its previous Google TV initiative, brought forward the Android-based Android TV, a new Smart TV initiative, towards the end of 2014. It delivers a comprehensive app ecosystem across multiple devices - both first screen and second screen.
Google's experience with voice search and personalized recommendations, combined with the users' Google Play movie and music collection, puts many pieces of the puzzle already in place. The success of Chromecast has led to Google Cast - a feature where an Android TV device can also act as a casting sink.
The rich UI used by Android TV is the Leanback Launcher. It is a 10-ft. UI combining large icons with easy and logical navigation options. The game controller supplied with the SHIELD works very well for navigation. Typing in text is a pain, which is why NVIDIA (and Google) are pushing voice search so hard for the platform, with both the Controller and Remote including microphones for that feature. Otherwise the input problem can easily be solved by a wireless keyboard / mouse combo - since Android TV supports any USB device adhering to the standard Android HID specifications.
Voice search can also be used within various apps, depending in part on how developers choose to implement it. In addition, it can also be used for cross-app searches from the Android TV launcher. Cross-app searches are meant to promote an open smart TV ecosystem, and as the name implies allows the Android TV search process to query multiple services for results, something that is especially handy if you want to look for a TV show or movie across several services. Developers do need to enable their participation in this feature, and conversely the end-user has the ability to configure the apps that are part of the search process.
Switching gears to the interface, the Android TV home screen starts with a 'Recommendations' row. End users can prevent certain apps from providing recommendations by turning off their notifications. However, it doesn't seem to be possible to remove the 'Recommendations' row entirely.
In addition to VoD from services such as Google Play Movies, CinemaNow, MubiTV, Netflix, Hulu Plus etc., Android TV also brings in support for live streams of channels using SlingTV and Live Channels. The latter app in particular is an interesting addition to the Android TV ecosystem since it makes Android TV devices (including the SHIELD Android TV) a bonafide TV receiver, takeing TV tuner boxes such as SiliconDust HDHomeRun and interfacing their IP output feed with Live Channels' own unified UI.
Major television networks are also expected to announce their own Android TV apps. Opposite today's launch at Google I/O, Google has announced that HBO, CBS, and FOX are all bringing video services to Android TV, making their content available OTT.
Meanwhile, discussing input a bit more, Google also has an Android app to enable a smartphone or tablet to act as a remote control for an Android TV device. It is obviously compatible with the SHIELD also.
The video above shows the various settings available in the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV. Subjectively speaking, turning off the Notifications / Recommendations provides a cleaner and more minimalist interface. The cross-app voice search remains available to provide recommendations when the user wants them.
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ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
From NV: "we do not have an empty HDD bay in the 16GB sku. Users will not be able to add their own HDD into the 16GB sku."ZOONAMI - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Wow thank you for prompt reply!Cami Hongell - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Tellybean is the first video call service on Android TV and the SHIELD is the first device that works with a regular Logitech camera. Try it out and please let us know what you think. http://eepurl.com/blSzU9vdek - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
How does the performance compare to the XB1 and PS4? Those would seem to be the two immediate competitors for this device. It seems like Anandtech has grown too focused on comparing everything to Tablets/phones...kron123456789 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
"How does the performance compare to the XB1 and PS4?" — It doesn't. This is just hardware:Sheild Android TV — 256 CUDA cores(at ~1GHz), 16ROPs, 16TMUs, 3GB of RAM with 25.6GB/sec bandwidth
Xbox One — 768 GCN cores(at 853MHz), 16ROPs, 48TMUs, 8GB of RAM with 68.2GB/sec bandwidth
PS4 — 1152 GCN cores(at 800MHz), 32ROPs, 72TMUs, 8GB of RAM with 176GB/sec bandwidth
ppi - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Given that basically all TVs now are "smart", what are real advantages of device such as this one over a Smart TV? I am talking video and content playback, of course.While I do not own 4K TV, my 1080p Samsung has no trouble playing HD YouTube and variety of formats from USB disk.
jt122333221 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
More content should be available on Android TV, and it's more likely to be updated than your TVs. Also, there are a lot of people who don't have a Smart TV and who would prefer NOT using their TV's smart features (I despise mine, the interface is horrible, apps are abysmal; only reason I have it is because it came with the TV I wanted).Yojimbo - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I have a Samsung smart tv and it's slow, slow, slow.jeffkibuule - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
When's the last time your TV got a meaningful software update?TheJian - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
You did see the gaming benchmarks right? If that wasn't a major point for the user, not sure why you would pay for this here other than playing all kinds of formats from your USB drives (flash etc), across the network (smart tv's usually not good at that either). Not to mention Grid gaming, which eliminates much of the need for a high end PC and constantly buying $60 games (be it console or PC).You have to be looking at this for more than just vids I think. IE you can do anything android devices can do. Meaning play their games, browse the web etc. I can sit on the couch and browse with a keyboard and mouse with this and a big screen (saving me a fat foot after 8hrs at work and some home time also on top). Too bad anandtech didn't bother to use it like this and comment.
I think SMART tv's are actually pretty stupid. They basically can stream some crap from netflix, youtube, amazon etc and not much more. Now if your tv has roku built-in or something, ok maybe sort of smarter but even that lacks major formats (really just has far more channels than smart tv's). My roku 2/3's are useless for USB sticks on about 80% of my content. I end up sticking it in the bluray player instead as most of the time it either can't play the audio or can't play the video.
If all you're after is movies and some streaming, I'd probably rather have a bluray player for $79-$99 that plays almost all formats from USB and streams fine, not to mention playing all disc formats (LG, BP350 $79 or something). Or even just a roku2 (new model with faster chip or roku 3 if using headphones in remote is needed) if just after streaming stuff but again, from usb sucks here, so I'm just talking web streaming vids.